15 Daily Habits to Boost Productivity Among Leaders and Their Teams

Happy and healthy employees can help enhance a team’s overall productivity. The more productive and collaborative your team is, the more successful your business will be.

As a leader, part of your role is to model good habits to increase productivity, whether it’s by making time for self-care routines or by creating the perfect organizational system that works for your team. Below, 15 Fast Company Executive Board members share the unique habits they believe can help boost the personal and professional productivity of staff members across the company.

1. Practicing self-care

Self-care looks different for everyone but for me it includes things like observing a regular skincare routine, getting in a few yoga sessions per week, and switching to reading books when I realize I’m doom scrolling or watching too much trash TV. By taking care of yourself, you’ll have more energy to be your best self at work and you’ll be more empathetic to team members when they’re struggling. – Maddy Osman, The Blogsmith

2. Hosting bi-weekly socials

The quality of our life is linked to the quality of our relationships. As we often spend more time with our colleagues than our family and friends, it is important to invest in developing meaningful relationships at work. So make it a habit to curate spaces where your team can get to know each other to strengthen their empathy, camaraderie, and humanity. – Rahul Raj, 5&Vine

3. Being a humble leader

I think sitting in the center of your team can be helpful at times. I was invited to take a tour of the Zappos facility. They are just outside of Las Vegas. We were walking with a small group of people around this huge office building. The late Tony Hsieh was working in a cubicle taking customer service calls. My No. 1 takeaway was that this is humble leadership. – Mark Johnson, Michigan Software Labs

4. Having kick-off meetings for projects

In a hybrid workplace, where we can decide when and where to work in an asynchronous way, I find it energizing and effective to have inclusive kick-off meetings for complex integrated projects—preferably in-person if possible and with all stakeholders. It ensures alignment on day one and creates a sense of community that would go a long way when facing roadblocks later on. – Isabelle Guis, Commvault

5. Caring about employees

Leaders must be continually working on themselves and working to understand who they are. I’m a big fan of the book Radical Candor and the ideology behind it, which posits that the best leaders are those that sincerely care about their employees on an individual level, allowing them to deliver meaningful feedback that is genuine, honest, and meant to drive growth instead of fostering negativity. – Christa Quarles, Corel

6. Running effective meetings

Schedule meetings for 25 or 55 minutes to allow time for transition between calls. Start and end on time. Circulate an agenda before and the next steps afterward. Respect and encourage everyone’s contributions while keeping the conversation focused. This approach respects everyone’s time and helps ensure people come prepared to make the most of the collaboration. – Traci Siegel, gmmb.com

7. Encouraging time blocking

Encourage and promote time blocking, which is dividing your day into blocks of time to accomplish specific tasks. Time blocking helps the to-do list feel a little less daunting. Say things to your team like, “I have 30 minutes of time blocked on Tuesday to review your proposal, so I will share feedback then.” Showing them how you structure your day will encourage them to follow your lead. – Shannon Tucker, Next PR

8. Prioritizing the right tasks

Manage your inbox and don’t let your inbox manage you. There are tons of articles on how to do it but as a leader, the single most important thing for you is to know what to spend your time on. To do that you need to be efficient with your work. Do that right and your team will know what is a priority for you and things flow down from there. – Sachin Gupta, HackerEarth

9. Saving time for small talk

As a rule, I always kick off my meetings with at least 10 minutes of small talk. I bake this into every agenda. While it can seem strange at first, I highly recommend doing this to connect with your team. Today’s distributed workforce doesn’t benefit from the water cooler discussion anymore, so we need to help ensure those free and personal conversations still happen in remote settings. – Rose Bentley, Qumu Corporation

10. Seeking feedback from your team

To positively impact your team, ask for feedback. Ask what you’re doing that is working well, and ask for specific examples. Then ask for a couple of distinct examples of when you could have done a better job. This is hard feedback to get someone to share, but once they realize it is asked sincerely and that positive action will be taken in light of it, you can create a great culture of learning and grow together. – Lukas Quanstrom, Ontic

11. Taking walking meetings

I’m a huge proponent of walking. Walking, whether alone or in a walking meeting, is an immediate way to connect your body with your mind. When walking, I see problems in a new light and get creative answers and fresh insights. Walking with a teammate is a way to embody what science writer, Annie Murphy Paul, terms “the extended mind,” as moving our bodies in physical spaces helps us tap into the creativity of others. – Sascha Mayer, Mamava

12. Ranking projects by importance

Keeping perspective is critical to productivity. In today’s constantly changing environment, expectations are at an all-time high. At the beginning of every week, I assess all of my ongoing projects and rate them by importance both criticality to the business and potential short- and long-term impacts of their completion. This perspective powers decision-making, time management, and productivity. – Danielle Paige, Nixon Peabody

13. Tracking your time

For the first two weeks of the quarter, track every minute of your day to understand if where you are spending your time is aligned with your top priorities for the company. After I do this, I share with my team where I am doing great and where I need improvement. Modeling this behavior gives my team both permission and a tool to evaluate their own productivity and priorities. – Greta McAnany, Blue Fever

14. Breaking projects down step-by-step

Learning how to break a complex task down into small and manageable steps can help employees make progress on even the most difficult projects. Sometimes viewing a project in its entirety can be daunting, but when it is broken down into pieces that can be separately addressed, it becomes less formidable. – Evan Nierman, Red Banyan

15. Leading by example

It’s simple: Lead by example. Teams look to their leaders for support. If I don’t practice the values I want to see in my own leaders, such as trust, respect, and confidence in my own abilities, my leaders won’t either. Everything you do has an effect on those around you. – David Vivero, Amino